Dear Parents and carers,

We have a busy week coming up with our whole school Holy Week celebrations and Dancefever Challenge for Years 3-6.  As we head towards the end of the term, I would like to wish all our families a very special Easter season; a time where we remember the sacrifices of Jesus and His gift to us all.  I hope that the school holiday break is a time for students and parents to relax and refresh.  

Dancefever

The Dancefever challenge is next Wednesday 5 April and we look forward to a high energy evening with lots of music and dancing. 

• Students should arrive at 5:15 pm at the Quaycentre for a 5:30 pm start. (No bus)
• Children should come dressed wearing a black t-shirt / singlet and shorts or leggings with their own choice of clothes over the top.  They dance their partner dances first and then take off their chosen clothes and just wear the black clothes for the showdance. The whole group  showdance is an  ‘Adams Family, Time Warp theme’. 
• The venue does not allow for meals to be eaten so children should have something to eat before arriving and then bring a snack and drink bottle to have throughout the night. 
• At the end of the evening, all children move to the dancefloor with the teachers and we ask one parent / carer from each family to collect their child / children.  

Parent Meetings and School Reports

Each Year, schools set their assessment and reporting schedule in line with the NSW Education Standards.  At Sacred Heart, we provide feedback to parents about their child’s progress in a number of ways during key points in the learning cycle: In 2023 we have the following:

Term 1 - Parent, teacher conferences in weeks 4-5

• Our meetings were either face to face or via zoom and provided parents with an overview of how their child had started the year and an opportunity to set learning goals for Semester 1. 

Term 2 - A written report

• Teachers provide a written report to parents of their child’s learning for Semester 1.  This report is distributed via Compass and uses the A–E grading scale for Years 1 - 6 to provide a common language for teachers to report student levels of achievement. Kindergarten students also receive a written report with a grading system showing if they are working towards, achieving or beyond the expected levels.  Parent meetings are scheduled for Term 3 to discuss this report.  Parents do have the option to request an earlier meeting with their child’s teacher if needed.

Term 3 - Parent, teacher conferences in weeks 2-3

• These meetings will be held early in Term 3, either face to face or via zoom to provide opportunities for parents to discuss their child’s written report, receive feedback on their learning for the first half of the year and to set learning goals for the remainder of the year.   

Term 4 - A written report

• Teachers provide a second written report to parents of their child’s learning for Semester 2.  This report is distributed via Compass and uses the A–E grading scale for Years 1 - 6 to provide a common language for teachers to report student levels of achievement. Kindergarten students also receive a written report with a grading system showing if they are working towards, achieving or beyond the expected levels.  Parents have the option to request a meeting with their child’s teacher to discuss this report.  

Facebook

During the past two weeks we have posted Harmony Day, our Open Day, our Year 6 Leadership forum and the ‘Night of the Notables’ event to showcase some of the wonderful learning, events and celebrations we have at Sacred Heart.  At the moment, we only have a small number of likes or comments and we encourage you to like or comment on our posts to assist in increasing our school profile. 

Ms Morris

Ms Lianne Morris is recovering well from her fall and has advised that she will return to our school in Term 2. I know that 5 Blue students and parents will welcome her return. We thank Mrs Anna Siokos and Mrs Stephanie Matchett for teaching 5 Blue during Term 1.  We are very fortunate that they were able to rearrange their family commitments and work extra days and we thank them, along with Mrs Watson for maintaining a consistent and excellent approach to teaching and learning in Year 5. 

Around the Classrooms

Night of the Notables - Year 6

This term in Year 6, the students have been focusing on Biographies, specifically Notable Australians. The students have been working very hard on their presentations and on Tuesday they invited all of Sacred Heart to come and learn about their notable. They did an amazing job and made their teachers very proud!

SRC’s first meeting

Last week, our SRC team had our first meeting. We introduced all SRC members to each other and their buddy. The SRC leader will be able to bring a new class buddy each meeting, so that all students have the opportunity to be part of SRC initiatives. In this meeting we talked about bringing back the ‘Suggestion Box’ so that we can hear ideas from all of our students in the school. We also discussed creating our own ‘Acknowledgement of Country’ to be read at assemblies. This will be a project to begin in Term 2. 

We spent the rest of our time designing our ‘Suggestion Box’ poster to promote its upbringing.

This is what the SRC members have designed so far.

By Lucas, Gus and our SRC Team